Study Buddies
by suchaphangirl
Summary: Dan moves to Phil's high school because of bullying at his old school and Dan is paired with Phil for a research project as soon as he gets there. Things are awkward when they have to work alone together at Phil's house. I might make this into a chaptered fic if people like this so please leave reviews!
1. Chapter 1

Dan Howell took a deep breath as he walked up to the classroom door.

It was second class of the day, and he was 10 minutes late because he was talking to the principal. The principal had been talking to Dan about how the school worked and all that jazz. Dan was the new kid in school. It was his first day and he was terrified. It didn't make things better that he had missed his first class so now he was going to have to walk in late.

"You can do this Dan, no big deal." Dan whispered to himself.

Dan had switched schools because he was bullied at his old school. He was bullied for being different. For being gay. He had gotten beat up every day, had been called the worst of the worst names. Dan was hoping that coming to a new school would help him get a fresh, new start. He wasn't going to tell a single soul that he was gay, not after what he went through at his old school. He already had enough bruises and scars on his body, and he really didn't need anymore. He hoped that the kids would be nicer. But he wasn't going to get his hopes up too high.

Dan finally opened the door and walked into the classroom. He walked over to the teacher's desk. Luckily, the students were too busy talking to each other to even notice him, which was good, because Dan hated it when people stared at him.

"Ah, you must be Daniel Howell." The teacher said when Dan walked in.

"It's Dan." Dan said quickly. The teacher nodded.

"Well, _Dan_, it's nice to meet you. My name is Mr. James." Mr. James said. Dan nodded. "You've come in just in time. We're starting a new project and you'll have a partner." Mr. James said. Dan groaned. "You'll be paired with Phil Lester."

"And who's that?" Dan asked. Mr. James looked at him.

"Over there." Mr. James said as he pointed to a boy in the back of a classroom. Dan nervously looked over and took a deep breath when he saw the black haired boy with rather pale skin and bright blue eyes. Dan thought he was beautiful. "You can head over there now." Mr. James said, shaking Dan out of his thoughts. "I'm sure Phil will explain the project to you. If you need any help, just ask me." Mr. James said. Dan nodded.

"Thank you." Dan said. He took another deep breath and made his way towards Phil. "Excuse me?" Dan asked as he walked up to Phil's table. Phil looked up from his paper and blinked a few times when he saw Dan.

"Can I help you?" Phil asked. Dan bit his lip.

"Mr. James said that I was going to be your partner for this project we're doing?" Dan asked. "Oh, sorry, I should have introduced myself. I'm Dan aka the new kid." Dan said, rolling his eyes. He looked back at Phil.

"Oh, so you're the new kid." Phil said. Dan nodded. "We've heard for days that we're getting a new kid." He said. Dan raised his eyebrows.

"Sorry if you're disappointed." Dan said. Phil shook his head.

"You don't have to stand, you know?" He said. "Sit down." Dan nervously sat his bag on the table and then he sat down. Phil looked at him.

"So, um, what's this project we're doing?" Dan asked.

"It's just a research paper." Phil said. "For an upcoming test we're having."

"Oh great. I came at the wrong time." Dan said.

"Yeah, you kind of did but it's a good thing this class is easy." Phil said. Dan blushed. "So, if you want to, you can come over to my house later and we can talk about the project. It would just seem easier." Phil said. Dan nodded.

"No, I'm totally cool with that. I'll have to ask my mum first." Dan said.

"Okay." Phil said. He went back to writing. Dan bit his lip.

Dan bit his lip as he looked around for Phil. He was one of the first ones out of school. Thankfully, his mum said that it was okay for him to go to Phil's house today. The only problem was, he had no idea where Phil's house was. Dan didn't have Phil's number yet either.

"Phil!" Dan yelled when he saw Phil walk out of school. Phil blinked a few times and looked up when he heard someone shout his name. He bit his lip when he saw Dan and nervously walked over to him. "My mum said it was okay for me to go to your place."

"Oh, great." Phil said. "Do you want to just ride with me?" He asked.

"You drive?" Dan asked with shock. Phil shook his head.

"No, but my friend PJ does and he drops me off every day." Phil said.

"Oh." Dan said nervously. "Okay, yeah." He said.

"You'll like PJ. He's really nice. One of the few nice kids in this school." Phil said.

"Well that makes me feel better." Dan said jokingly. Phil smiled and started to lead the way to PJ's car. Phil looked up and sighed when he saw PJ's car and saw that PJ also wasn't alone as he was making out with another boy in the car. But Phil already knew that PJ had a boyfriend.

"Looks like he's with his boyfriend." Phil said.

"Boyfriend?" Dan asked with shock. Phil stopped walking and immediately looked at Dan.

"Yeah. PJ and Chris. They're both gay and they're dating. You don't have a problem with that, do you?" Phil asked. Dan quickly shook his head.

Dan was actually pleased to hear that there were other gay kids at this school, which meant that maybe he didn't have to hide who he was.

"No! God, no!" Dan yelled. "In fact…I'm actually gay myself." He said. Phil smiled.

"Welcome to the club." He said. Dan smiled.

"Well, thanks. I wasn't going to tell anybody because of reasons but it's nice to know there's others like me here." Dan said. Phil nodded.

"Yeah, people know that Chris and PJ are dating. Not a lot of people are pleased about it but they leave them alone." Phil said. "You shouldn't hide."

"I know." Dan said. "It's just that I went through some bad experiences at my old school and I..."

"It's okay, Dan." Phil said. "You don't have to talk about anything if you don't want to." He said. Dan sighed in relief.

"Thanks Phil." Dan said. Phil smiled and nodded.

"Come on, let's go." He said. They walked over to PJ's car. Phil knocked on the window once they were there. Chris and PJ immediately pulled apart when they heard the knock. PJ looked up and smiled when he saw Phil. He unlocked the car. Phil opened the door.

"Hey Phil." PJ said. Phil got into the car.

"Hey. I brought a friend with me today. Hope you don't mind." PJ said. PJ shook his head.

"Of course not." PJ said. Phil looked up at Dan.

"Get in." Phil said. Dan bit his lip before he got into the car and then shut the door. He nervously looked up. PJ gave him a friendly smile.

Maybe this school wouldn't be as bad as Dan thought it would be.

"You were right about PJ being nice." Dan said as he followed Phil into his house. "Chris is nice too." Phil looked over at him and nodded.

"Yeah, they're my best friends. I've been friends with PJ since we were babies." Phil said. "Do you want anything to drink?" He asked. Dan shook his head.

"No, I'm fine, thanks." He said. Phil nodded.

"Philip? Is that you?" Phil groaned when he heard mum's voice.

"Yes, mum." Phil said. Phil's mum walked into the living room. Dan bit his lip.

"Who's this?" His mum asked when she saw Dan.

"Um, this is Dan. He's my partner for a school project. I hope it's okay that he's over. I should have called first." Phil said. Phil's mum smiled.

"You should have but it's okay." She said. She turned and looked at Dan. "Well, it's very nice to meet you, Dan." She said. She shook Dan's hand. "Dinner will be ready in about two hours. I'll leave you boys to it." She said. She walked out of the living room and into the kitchen. Phil looked over at Dan.

"I'm so sorry about that. She does this every time I bring someone over." Phil said.

"It's fine. My mum is the same way." Dan said. It was silent for a few seconds. Phil bit his lip and looked over at Dan.

"So, where do you want to start?" Phil asked, breaking the silence. Dan looked at him.

"Um, it doesn't really matter." He said. They both sat down. Dan looked at him, just as Phil looked back at him.

Dan had never been put in such an awkward situation like this before.

Dan liked Phil and he really wanted to get to know Phil as a person…Hopefully things would work out between them.


	2. Chapter 2

It's been about an hour since Dan and Phil have been at Phil's house. They haven't really said much to each other. Phil had been doing his research on his laptop at his desk while Dan was lying on Phil's bed and was looking through the books for some information on their research project. Dan was quite bored but he wasn't complaining. This was something that Dan could deal with. This was better than sitting at home and being bored, all by himself.

Phil finally glanced over at Dan and sighed slightly when he saw him. He could tell that Dan was bored.

"You don't have to be here you now." Phil said. Dan finally looked up at him.

"What do you mean?" Dan asked. Phil raised his eyebrows.

"I can tell that you're bored." Phil said. Dan slowly sat up.

"I'm not bored." Dan said nervously. Phil chuckled.

"I don't mind doing this by myself. I can just put your name on it and we'll…" Dan quickly shook his head.

"Phil, no." Dan said, cutting him off. "I don't want to be one of those people." He told him. "Plus, it's my first day and I kind of need to do this. I have to catch up because I have no idea what's happening in class right now." He said. Phil raised his eyebrows as he stared at him. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, okay then. If you say so." He said. He turned back around. Dan frowned.

Two hours later and Dan was finally leaving Phil's house to go home. Part of him was glad to be going home but the other part was a little sad as he didn't really spend much time talking to Phil or getting to know him which was what he had hoped for. He hoped this wouldn't be the last time they would hang out because he really did want to get to know Phil a little better. Phil seemed like a nice person. Dan knew if he spent enough time with him then he would be able to get to know him…Only if Phil gave him the time of day.

"See you tomorrow." Phil said as he watched Dan walk out of the house. Dan looked over at him and smiled slightly.

"Yeah." Dan said. "Bye!" He called. He walked out of the house and shut the door. He took a deep breath. "Oh my God. That was so awkward." He mumbled. He walked off the porch and then he started making his way towards his house. Luckily, his house was only 10 minutes away so he wouldn't have to walk very far. Dan sighed as he walked up to his house and then made his way inside. Dan's family wasn't very rich but they weren't poor either so he was happy with how his life was. "Mum! I'm home!" Dan yelled as he walked into the house. Dan walked into the kitchen. He looked over and blinked a few times when he saw a note on the table. Dan walked over to it and picked it up.

_Dan, I'm out with friends and will be gone tonight. Here's 20 dollars for food. Love you! Xx_

"Are you kidding me?" Dan asked as he threw the note down. "Even my own mother has more friends than I do!" He snapped.

Dan only lived with his mom as his dad left them when he was about three years old. Dan didn't remember much of his dad but all he knew was that his dad treated his mom awfully so he was glad that he didn't remember much.

Dan sighed in frustration and walked out of the kitchen. He made his way towards his bedroom. Once he was there, he climbed onto his bed and lay down on his stomach. Dan buried his face into his pillow.

"Ugh!" Dan groaned. He wasn't looking forward to school tomorrow.

It was the next morning and Dan was just leaving his house to go to school. The school was only about 10 minutes away from his house so he decided that he would just walk there to save his mom some trouble.

Dan hadn't been walking for that long. But while he was walking, a car pulled up next to him. Dan blinked a few times and looked over at the car. He took a few steps back, preparing himself for the worst. The window was rolled down. Dan sighed in relief when he saw that it was PJ. PJ looked up at him.

"Hey. Do you want a ride?" PJ asked. "I saw you walking alone…" He added.

"Really?" Dan asked, a little shocked. PJ shrugged his shoulders. "I…I don't want to be a bother to you or anything…"

"Oh, come on. You're not being a bother to anyone." PJ said, cutting him off. Dan smiled.

"Okay." He walked over to the car and then he got in.

"I have to pick up Chris on the way though." PJ told Dan. Dan looked up at him and nodded.

PJ had stopped by Chris's house and had picked him up and now they were just getting to school.

"Thanks for bringing me here." Dan said as they got out of the car.

"No problem." PJ replied. Dan bit his lip nervously as he watched Chris and PJ. He was jealous of their relationship. They seemed like the perfect couple. Dan had never had a boyfriend. Chris wrapped his arm around PJ's waist and they walked into the school. Dan sighed and then he also walked into the school. Dan looked around but he didn't see Phil anywhere. Dan raised his eyebrows. Dan went to continue walking but he stopped when he ran into someone.

"I…I'm sorry! I didn't see you there!" Dan said quickly. He looked up to see a boy glaring at him.

"Obviously not." The boy snapped. "Watch where you're going next time, twat." Dan quickly nodded.

"Hey, be easy on him Jack." Dan immediately looked over and blinked a few times when he saw Phil walk over to them. "He's new." Phil said as he walked over to him. The boy 'Jack' looked back at Dan and raised his eyebrows.

"Ah, so you're the new kid." Jack said. Dan slowly nodded. "What's your name?" Jack asked.

"Dan…Dan Howell." Dan replied nervously. He bit his lip as he looked up at Jack.

"I'm going to remember you. So watch your back, kid." Jack warned as he gave Dan a death glare. He turned around and then he walked away. Dan sighed in relief. Phil shook his head as he watched Jack walk away.

"Thank you for stepping in." He said as he looked up at Phil.

"You're lucky that I'm friends with him." Phil told Dan.

"Who is he?" Dan asked curiously. Phil raised his eyebrows.

"Oh…His name is Jack Howard. He's one of the most popular kids in school. He's on the football team and everything." Phil explained. He rolled his eyes. "You really don't want to mess with him or get on your bad side because he will probably personally murder you himself." He added. Dan nodded. Although now he was a little bit terrified that he had now encountered this 'Jack Howard' and he hoped that he wouldn't encounter him again.

"So, how did you become his friend?" He asked.

"I know Chris and PJ." Phil said. He shrugged his shoulders and then he walked off. Dan sighed.

"Way to bloody go Dan." He mumbled. He continued walking again. Dan stopped by his locker to grab some of his books before he made his way towards his first period class. He quickly glanced around. Now that he knew who Jack Howard was, he knew that he needed to keep away from him the best he could. Dan sighed in relief when he didn't see Jack anywhere. He walked over to his seat and sat down. Dan sat there for a few seconds. He looked up and bit his lip when he saw Phil walk. Phil also looked up and sighed when he saw Dan. He walked over to the seat next and sat down.

"Why is it that I have a feeling that we're going to be seeing a lot of each other?" Phil asked.

"You don't sound too happy about that?" Dan asked. Phil looked at him.

"I'm not sure if I am happy about it or not." Phil replied. "Guess we'll find out." Dan smiled and looked away from him.

"Hey." Dan looked up and saw that PJ was just sitting down next to Phil. Phil smiled as he looked at PJ.

"Hey." He said. Dan frowned as he watched them.

"Did we have any homework last night?" PJ asked Phil.

"Busy with Chris again?" Phil asked. PJ blushed.

"Shut up." PJ said jokingly. Phil laughed and shook his head.

"No, we didn't have any homework." Phil said. "You're lucky." He added. PJ stuck his tongue out at him.

Dan sighed in relief as he walked out of school. It was finally the end of the school day after a long day. Dan was tired and he didn't want to be at school and he just wanted to go home. Dan started walking away from the school but he immediately stopped when somebody called his name. Dan turned around and sighed in relief when he saw it was only Phil.

"Worried I was Jack Howard?" Phil asked as he walked up to Dan. Dan smiled slightly.

"Something like that." Dan mumbled. He looked at Phil again. Phil smiled.

"Well, are you doing anything tonight?" Phil asked.

"Um...Not that I know of. I don't have any friends so I usually just sit in my bedroom playing video games and browsing on the internet 'cos I have a boring life." Dan said. He shook his head. Phil chuckled. "Why do you ask?" Dan asked curiously.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out with me and PJ later." Phil said. "Chris is busy tonight so PJ is hanging out with me and we figured we'd ask if you wanted to tag along." Phil explained. Dan stared at him with shock.

"You want to hang out with me? Me?" Dan asked. Phil nodded. "I…I'm a little shocked." Dan admitted.

"Why are you so shocked?" Phil asked curiously. Dan sighed.

"Well…Because…Because…Nobody cares about the new kid! I…I don't know. I don't know what I'm going on about. Don't listen to me." Dan mumbled. He shrugged his shoulders. Phil raised his eyebrows as he watched Dan.

"So, is that a yes or a no?" Phil asked. Dan bit his lip.

"Yeah, alright. But…I can't stay out too late though. Mum doesn't like it when I stay out late on school nights." Dan said. He rolled his eyes. Phil nodded in understandment. Dan smiled as he looked at him. "So, are we going now or…?" Phil laughed. He reached over and grabbed Dan and led the way off. Dan smiled as he followed Phil. Maybe he would be able to get to know Phil. Maybe this could be his chance to make an actual friend or two. Dan just hoped that he wouldn't say anything or do anything to blow his chance.


	3. Chapter 3

"Mum! I'm home!" Dan shouted as he walked into the house.

It was around 9 o' clock at night. Dan spent most of the night with Phil and PJ. They spent most of their time at the mall after they saw a movie. Dan felt like everything went okay. He didn't make a fool of himself which was a first time. Dan hoped that Phil would want to hang out with him again.

Dan sighed as he walked into the kitchen. He kind of wished that he was still out. Being at home was boring. Dan looked up to see his mom putting away dishes. She looked over and then she smiled when Dan walked into the room.

"You were gone a while." She said. Dan shrugged his shoulders.

"I was hanging out with some friends." He mumbled. Dan smiled. He liked the sound of that.

"You actually made friends?" Dan's mom, Diane, asked.

"Gee, thanks mum!" Dan rolled his eyes. She chuckled. "They're not really my friends. Not yet, anyways. It's only the second day of school." Dan explained as he walked over to the fridge and opened it.

"How was school?" She asked as she watched him.

"It was okay." Dan said as he pulled out a can of soda. "It was alright. Nothing special." Dan mumbled. He shut the fridge.

"Do you like this new school?" Diane asked. Dan looked up at her.

"I haven't gotten beaten up yet so yeah." He said. He nodded.

"You tell me if anyone is giving you any trouble and I will take care of it." Diane warned.

"Mum." Dan groaned. "I'll be fine." He said.

"That's what you said last time before we ended up moving to a different city and to different schools." Diane said. "I'm being completely serious right now, Daniel. I don't want to see another bruise anywhere on that body of yours." Dan nodded but didn't say anything. "Alright…You can go now." She said.

"Thanks mum." Dan said. He turned and then he quickly walked out of the kitchen. Dan walked to his bedroom and shut his door and locked it. He loved his mum, but he hated that she was so protective of him. But, he didn't blame her. Dan walked over to his computer desk and sat down. He opened up his laptop. Dan blinked a few times when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. No one ever texted him. Dan opened up his phone and smiled when he saw that he had a text from Phil. This was the first text he had gotten from someone at his new school. He was rather excited about it.

**From: Phil**

_Thanks for hanging out with us tonight. It was good fun. _

**To: Phil**

**From: Dan**

_I'm glad we hung out! Maybe we can do it again soon? x _

**To: Dan**

**From: Phil**

_Yes, of course! Talk to you tomorrow. Goodnight! x _

Dan was smiling. Dan was even actually blushing. Dan never blushed like this. Dan took a deep breath and then he sat his phone down on his desk. Dan bit his lip nervously as he began to think about Phil.

'_Join the club_' is what Phil had said to him the first day of school when Dan had told him that he was gay.

Dan had never really thought about it before when Phil had told him that but now it had gotten Dan thinking. Maybe Phil was gay too? Like Chris and PJ? Even though Dan was curious, he wasn't going to say anything to Phil. He wasn't going to risk saying something stupid to wreck a friendship that he was trying to form. This was his first ever proper friendship and he wanted to keep it.

"Bloody hell." Dan mumbled. He sighed and hid his face in his hands.

Two days later and now it was Phil that was coming over to Dan's house. They were doing the finishing touches on their essay for History class. They only had one more day to work on it before they had to turn it in.

"Why do we even have to learn about all of this American stuff?" Phil raised his eyebrows as he looked over at Dan. "If I wanted to learn about the American's then I would go America." Dan said as he was reading over what they already had written on their essay. Both Dan and Phil were sitting on Dan's bed.

"It was the topic that I picked." Phil told Dan. Dan looked at him. "There was a list of things that were going to be on the upcoming test. The other topics were boring so just went for this. It's pretty interesting." Phil explained.

"Oh." Dan said. He blinked a few times. "Well, I'm hungry. Do you want to get some snacks?" Dan asked. Phil nodded.

"Okay." He said. Dan stood up from the bed and then he pulled Phil up. "Thanks." Phil mumbled. Dan gave him a smile and nodded. He turned around and then he led the way down the hallway. Phil followed him. They walked into the kitchen. Dan looked around for a couple minutes. He sighed as he shut the fridge.

"Well, looks like we have no food in this house…Again." Dan mumbled. Dan rolled his eyes. He turned and then he looked over at Phil. "Do you just want to order pizza? Mum left me some money." Phil frowned.

"Where is your mum?" He asked curiously. Dan shrugged his shoulders.

"She's probably at work. She usually works until late at night." Dan told him.

"Don't you get lonely being in this house alone?" Phil asked.

"Sometimes but I've gotten used to it." Dan said.

"What about your dad?" Phil asked. Dan bit his lip nervously.

"Um…H-He doesn't live here anymore. He left when I was little." Dan mumbled.

"Oh. I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…" Phil started to say. Dan shook his head.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it. So, um…Pizza?" Dan asked. Phil nodded.

"Pizza sounds good." Phil said. Dan smiled slightly.

Dan and Phil finally ordered their pizza and were back in Dan's bedroom. Phil bit his lip as he looked over at Dan.

"I was just curious…" Phil started to say. Dan looked up at him. "How come you moved here so suddenly?" Phil asked.

"Oh, well…I didn't really like my old school." Dan mumbled. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Really?" Phil asked. He blinked a few times. Dan nodded. "What didn't you like about it?"

"What's with all the questions all of a sudden?" Dan asked nervously.

"Nothing. I…I just wanted to get to know you a little more. We haven't really talked properly since you've arrived…

"Well, if you want to know…It's not that I didn't like school. It's just…I didn't like the people there and the people didn't like me because of the fact that I was gay. That's why I told you that I was going to hide." Dan explained. Phil's eyes went wide with shock.

"You were bullied for being gay?" Phil asked. Dan looked at him.

"Why's that so shocking?" Dan asked. Phil shook his head.

"That's ridiculous. Didn't your principal or teachers do anything about it?" Phil asked. Dan scoffed.

"No." Dan said. "They didn't care about what the students did to each other or said to each other. I would walk into the classroom with fresh new bruises and they wouldn't question about anything. I tried to keep it a secret for as long as I could but my mum found out when she spotted a bruise on my arm and we basically left and moved here and so far everything's been going okay so I'm glad that we moved." Dan told Phil. Phil smiled.

"Well, I'm glad you moved too." Phil said. Dan blushed. "People won't bully you at school here. Our principal made that clear after one student tried to commit suicide last year." Dan's eyes went wide with shock.

"Well what happened to him?" Dan asked nervously. Phil chuckled.

"Don't worry. He's fine." Phil assured him. "Thanks for being honest with me." Phil added. Dan smiled.

"No problem. It feels good to tell someone else that. So…Tell me about you now before we get all emotional here." Dan said. Phil laughed.

"Well, what do you want to know?" Phil asked. Dan looked at him.

"Anything." Dan said. "What do you like to do? What's your favorite music?" Dan asked.

"Well, I can tell you my favorite music…I love listening to Muse, My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy…" Phil started to say.

"Okay, stop right there…" Phil blinked a few times as he stared at Dan. "We're obviously meant to be best friends because I fucking love Muse." Dan said.

"Really?" Phil asked. Dan nodded. "Wow. That's surprising. No one around here really knows who they are!" Phil exclaimed.

"Yeah. People at my old school didn't really know the music that I listen to." Dan rolled his eyes.

"Well, at least we have one thing in common." Phil said. Dan laughed.

"Which is a good thing because I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of each other?" Dan said.

It's been a couple hours now since Phil has been at Dan's house. They spent most of their time chatting and less of their time actually working on their essay. Dan and Phil had actually gotten to know each other a little bit more which Dan was glad. Phil seemed to be warming up to him and that's all that he wanted.

It was now around 10 o' clock. Phil had fallen asleep on Dan's bed while they were watching movies. Dan was still awake though and was reading over their essay and making sure they had everything they needed.

Dan looked up as soon as he heard the door open and close. Dan bit his lip as he sat there a few seconds and then sighed in relief when his mom walk into his bedroom. Diane looked up and smiled when she saw Dan.

"Hi mum." Dan said when he saw her. Diane smiled.

"Hello dear. How was your day?" Diane asked.

"It…It was really good." Dan said with a smile. Diane raised her eyebrows when she saw Phil.

"Who's this?" She asked nodding towards Phil. Dan glanced down at Phil for a quick second.

"Oh, this is Phil. I told you about him yesterday. We were looking over our essay for class. I was paired with him on the first day of school. We've kind of been hanging out since then." Dan told her. Diane smiled and nodded.

"Well, you boys must have been working really hard then." She said.

"Well, actually we just…" Dan went to say something else but then he quickly shut his mouth before he said something that he would regret. Diane raised her eyebrows. "Nothing. Nevermind." Dan said. He shook his head.

"Did you boys eat anything for dinner?" Dan nodded.

"Yeah, we ordered some pizza a couple hours ago and we still have some left over." Dan said. "Is it okay if Phil stays over?" Dan asked nervously. "I really don't think he's moving any time soon." Dan added. Diane nodded.

"Of course he can stay over, Dan. He can stay as long as he wants." She said. Dan smiled. "Okay, well I'm going to bed. It was a long day. See you in the morning." Diane said. She let out a yawn. Dan chuckled.

"Okay. Have a good sleep." Dan said. He watched as his mom left his bedroom and shut the door. Dan sighed as he looked down at the essay. He let out a yawn. He then looked over beside him when Phil moved a bit beside him. Dan raised his eyebrows as he watched Phil. "Hey." Dan whispered when Phil's eyes finally slowly opened. Phil blinked a few times as he looked up at Dan. Dan chuckled and shook his head.

"How long was I asleep?" Phil asked. He let out a yawn.

"Only about two hours." Dan said. Phil slowly pushed himself up. Dan looked over at him.

"What time is it?" Phil asked as he looked over at Dan. Dan reached over and grabbed his phone and looked at the time.

"It's almost 10 o' clock." Dan said. Phil groaned. Dan looked over at Phil.

"I didn't tell my mum I was staying this long." Phil said. Dan frowned.

"Are you leaving?" Dan asked. He kind of wanted Phil to stay. Phil looked at Dan.

"Well, I…I don't know." Phil mumbled. Dan bit his lip.

"Mum said you could stay over if you wanted." Dan said.

"Really?" Phil asked. Dan nodded. "I'll have to call my mum first and see if it's okay."

"Okay." Dan said. Dan stayed sat on his bed while Phil went out to call his mum. Dan sat there by himself for a few minutes before Phil finally came back into the room. Dan looked up at him. "What did your mum say then?" Dan asked.

"She said it was okay." Phil told him. Dan smiled.

"Well…We have a couple of options here…" Phil raised his eyebrows. "We could both share the bed, it is big enough. One of us could sleep on the floor or sleep on the couch in the living room and to be honest…It's not very comfortable." Phil laughed.

"I don't mind sharing a bed." Phil said. Dan blushed.

"Alright then. I'll just go grab some extra blankets and pillows." Dan said. He stood up from the bed. Phil bit his lip as he watched Dan walk out of the room. He took a deep breath and then he shook his head.

"Don't think about him like that. Don't think about him like that." Phil whispered.


	4. Chapter 4

A whole month has now quickly passed since Dan arrived at his new school. Dan was surprisingly catching up quickly, with the help of Phil. Phil was always there if Dan ever needed help with any homework assignments when the teachers weren't there to help Dan. It turned out that Phil was some genius, as Dan liked to call him. Phil was passing most of his classes. Dan didn't know how he did it. Dan and Phil had been hanging out a lot with each other ever since Dan arrived. Dan was surprised that Phil hadn't gotten sick of him yet. Thankfully, they had gotten to know each other though so they were kind of friends now which was all Dan had ever wanted. He just wanted one friend. And he got one. Actually...He got three. Sort of. Dan was friends with PJ now and Chris was still getting used to him. Chris didn't hate him. Dan didn't care though. He liked Phil and PJ.

Luckily; everybody at school had gotten over Dan being a new kid. Jack Howard never tried to beat him up after their first encounter which Dan was thankful for. A couple students found out that he was gay but they still left him alone which Dan was very thankful for. Their school had a strict rule of no bullying. Dan was happy that he could actually walk around school and not worry about somebody grabbing him and beating him up in the bathroom.

Meanwhile, it was a Monday morning. Dan had just gotten to school and was waiting in the lobby with Phil. They had gotten to school early so they had to wait for the bell to ring. Dan had stayed up late playing video games so he was extra tired today.

"Dan, you really should work on going to bed early." Phil chuckled as he watched Dan yawn for the tenth time.

"Shut up." Dan whined. He pouted. "Where are Chris and PJ?" Dan asked as he looked around.

"They're probably skipping today." Phil said. He rolled his eyes. Dan laughed. He glanced around and then his eyes went wide with shock when he saw a boy from his old school. Phil blinked a few times as he looked at Dan. "Dan? Are you okay?"

"Oh no. What is he doing here?" Dan asked nervously.

Luke Cutforth was Dan's worst bully at his old school. Luke would beat him up every single day at school and give him the worst bruises and called him the worst names. Luke was the one who found out that Dan was gay and spread it around the school and made everybody hate him.

"What is who doing here? Dan, will you please talk to me?" Phil asked nervously. Dan quickly shook his head as he continued to stare at Luke who apparently new a lot of people here. Dan turned around and ran straight to the bathroom. "Dan!" Phil called. Phil immediately ran after Dan. Dan was about to run into a stall but Phil quickly grabbed him. Dan stared at him with wide eyes. "Dan…" Phil started to say. Dan's eyes began to water up.

"I can't let him see me." Dan whispered. He took a deep breath.

"Who are you talking about?" Phil asked curiously.

"L-Luke Cutforth." Dan said. Phil's eyes went wide with shock.

"Luke Cutforth? He just moved here. How do you know him?" Phil asked.

"He went to my old school." Phil frowned. Dan took a deep breath. "And he was the biggest bully of them all. He's the one who made my life a living hell and forced me to move schools. A lot of people bullied me but he was the worst. He was the reason why everybody bullied me. People at least left me alone before but then he found out that I was gay and spread it around the school. Everything just went downhill after that." Dan explained. Phil shook his head.

"Dan, you don't have to worry about getting bullied here." Phil assured him.

"Luke doesn't care about the rules. He goes by his own rules." Dan said. Dan and Phil both looked up when they heard footsteps. Dan froze as soon as he saw Luke walk into the bathroom. Luke looked up and smirked when he saw Dan.

"Ah, Dan Howell. Funny seeing you here." Luke said. "We were wondering where you went off to. We've missed you…"

"Yeah, well I didn't miss you at all." Dan mumbled as he looked down at his hands. Luke glared at him. He went to take a step forward but Phil stepped in front of him. Dan's eyes went wide with shock as he looked up at Phil.

"Don't even try to hurt, Dan." Phil said. Luke looked over at Phil and stared at him. Phil sighed. "You won't get away with it here." Luke scoffed. "The school has cameras everywhere and if they see you bullying Dan then you'll get suspended." Phil warned. He reached over and gently grabbed a hold of Dan. "Come on, let's go." Phil whispered. He led Dan out of the bathroom. Luke glared at Dan as he watched him. Dan took a deep breath once they were out of the bathroom. Phil looked over at Dan. "Are you okay?" Phil asked.

"I will be…Just as long as I don't run into him again." Dan mumbled.

"You'll be fine. If he gives you any trouble…Just tell the school and they'll take care of it." Phil told him. Dan nodded.

The bell finally rang for school to begin. Dan first went to his locker to grab some books that he would need for his morning classes and then he made his way towards his first period class. Unfortunately, Dan didn't have first period class with Phil but he did have it with PJ. Though, Dan was sure that PJ wasn't at school today which meant he was all by himself. Dan walked over to the table that he usually sat at and sat down.

"Hey." Dan looked up and sighed in relief when he saw PJ.

"Hey." Dan greeted. "I didn't think you were going to show up today." PJ sat down next to him.

"Yeah, me either. I was running a little bit late." PJ said. He sighed and shook his head.

"Do I wanna know?" Dan asked. PJ also laughed.

"No…Not really. Let's just say I was with Chris last night. Last time I stay with him before a school night." Dan smiled. Dan looked up and his eyes went wide with shock when he saw Luke walk into the classroom. PJ looked at Dan and raised his eyebrows when he saw the look on Dan's face. "You alright, Dan?" PJ asked. Luke glanced over and smirked when he saw Dan again. Dan shook his head and blinked a few times.

"I, um…" Dan started to say. He took a deep breath. "I'm fine. It's nothing you have to worry about." He mumbled. Dan looked down at his hands. PJ looked up and blinked a few times when he saw Luke staring at Dan. So far, almost everyone in the school knew who Luke was and he didn't have a good reputation so far. PJ knew exactly who Luke Cutforth was as he had already tried to beat him up once.

"Dan, do you know him?" PJ asked as he looked over at Dan.

"Unfortunately." Dan mumbled. He looked up at PJ. "He used to bully me at my old school." PJ shook his head.

"Forget about him. The school doesn't allow bullying." PJ said.

"I know." Dan nodded. "Phil told me a little while ago about how someone tried to commit suicide last year or something because they were bullied for being gay." Dan said. "I feel a lot safer at this school then I did my old."

"Wait, did Phil tell you who this someone was?" PJ asked. Dan shook his head.

"No. He didn't give me a name but then again I didn't bother asking as we started talking about Muse." Dan said. PJ chuckled.

"Phil's obsessed with that band." PJ said. Dan smiled.

"One of the many things we have in common." PJ smiled as he looked at Dan.

"Are you blushing?" PJ asked. Dan's cheeks only got redder.

"No. I'm not blushing." Dan quickly covered his cheeks.

"Oh my God. Do you like Phil?" PJ asked. Dan's eyes went wide with shock.

"What?! No! I don't like Phil!" Dan hissed. PJ raised his eyebrows. "I-I don't know what you're talking about." PJ smirked as he looked at Dan. Dan rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Don't look at me like that and don't judge me." Dan mumbled. PJ laughed at him. Dan turned and looked down at his hands. PJ shook his head. Dan sighed. "Maybe a little. But, please don't say anything to him!" Dan begged as he looked at PJ. PJ nodded. "I've only known him for a little bit and I don't want to rush him into a relationship. I don't even know if he likes like that."

"Alright class. Quiet down." Dan immediately looked up at the teacher and sighed.

It was near lunch time when PJ had just caught up with Phil.

"Hey." Phil said as he sat down at the lunch table, where PJ was sitting. PJ looked up at him. "Is Chris not here today?"

"No. He skipped." PJ said. He rolled his eyes.

"He's either brave or stupid for skipping so many days." Phil said. PJ laughed.

"I'm going with stupid." Phil also laughed. "Anyways, we need to talk." PJ whispered.

"Okay, about what?" Phil asked curiously. PJ bit his lip as he looked around. He looked back at Phil.

"You told Dan about _someone _who almost committed suicide last year?" PJ asked. Phil's eyes went wide.

"How do you know about that?" Phil asked nervously.

"Because I was talking to him earlier about Luke Cutforth in class." PJ whispered. "Dan doesn't know that the someone was you? Does he?" PJ asked. Phil shook his head. PJ frowned. "Are you going to tell him?" Phil sighed.

"I don't know. I only told him that part because he was telling me about everything that was happening at his old school. I just wanted to make him feel a little safer at this school so he wouldn't have to worry about being bullied like he did at his ol school but now that Luke kid is here…" Phil began to say.

"Should we tell someone about him? I don't want Dan to worry either…" PJ said.

"Maybe not right now. Let's just wait and see if anything happens. For now…We should just protect Dan so he doesn't have to go through all that crap again. We both know what it's like to be bullied for being gay." PJ nodded.

"Yeah, totally. Luke's already tried to get me once. Thank God for Chris stepping in." PJ said. Phil shook his head.

"Anyways…" Phil started to say. PJ laughed. He looked over at Phil again.

"So, how do you feel about Dan?" PJ asked curiously. Phil stared at him.

"What do you mean? He's my friend." Phil said. "Or I'd like to think so." He mumbled.

"Oh, trust me…You're definitely his friend." PJ smirked.

"Wait, what do you know that I don't know?" Phil asked. PJ shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm hungry. Are you getting in line?" PJ asked as he stood up.

"Peej!" Phil hissed. PJ laughed and then he walked over to the lunch line. Phil sighed and shook his head.


End file.
